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Press Releases
大象传媒 documentary celebrates 50th anniversary of Battle of Britain Memorial
Flight
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The Lancaster bomber, Hurricane and Spitfire aeroplanes are the
spectacular stars of a special 大象传媒 documentary celebrating the 50th
anniversary of Lincolnshire's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
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The Flight (大象传媒 One in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East
Midlands, 7.30pm, Friday 4 May 2007) charts the pride and passion of the team based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire who work on and fly the historic planes at air shows
around the country.
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The half-hour film, a year in the making, includes interviews with
pilots, engineers and war veterans plus exclusive behind-the-scenes
footage of the organisation behind the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
over London last year.
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This highlight of the flying season took months of preparation. The
Flight reveals for the first time that the pilots flying the Hurricane
and Spitfire in the flypast agreed to risk their lives in an emergency
rather than bale out over the capital.
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Their plan was to "ditch" in the Thames if the 60-year-old engines
powering their venerable warplanes failed over the capital.
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"It has potential to have lethal consequences as these aircraft do not
ditch well," admits Squadron Leader Al Pinner.
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In another remarkable sequence, a highly-qualified instructor who teaches
pilots to fly the RAF's new Typhoon Eurofighter struggles to land a Forties
vintage Hurricane, bouncing on landing and having to take off again to
prevent a crash landing.
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As well as the Queen's flypast, the team took part in more than 400
events during the year and they talk emotionally on camera about the
pride, elation and honour of flying such priceless artefacts of the
nation's heritage.
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They also pay glowing tribute to the heroism of the teenage pilots who
actually flew the planes in the Second World War.
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AB2
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